Overview & Mission

Established in 1997, the California Digital Library has a wholly digital charter and two complementary but distinct roles.  As an arm of systemwide library planning, CDL supports the University of California libraries in their mission of providing access to the world’s knowledge for the UC campuses and the communities they serve.  In so doing, it directly supports UC’s mission of teaching, research, and public service.

The CDL also maintains its own distinctive programs emphasizing the development and management of digital collections, innovation in scholarly publishing, and the long-term preservation of digital information.

The CDL serves these audiences, in the following order of priority, to fulfill its dual missions:

• the UC libraries;
• the broader UC community; and
• external constituencies and the general public.

The values that underpin the CDL’s work derive from its location within a world-class public-sector university, its role as a technology-based organization, and its service orientation toward the University community and the broader public. These values:

• emphasize effective knowledge management and discovery as a key to innovation in research and learning;
• encourage wide-ranging and unfettered inquiry, and seek the widest possible distribution of cultural, educational, and government information at the lowest possible cost;
• entail a commitment to innovation as a means of achieving business efficiencies and effectiveness;
• promote the needs and interests of our diverse users; and
• inspire the creative application of technology in the service of scholarship and learning.